Millennium/KWS Suzuki sponsored by Ron Ayers Motorsports found out Wednesday that John Haner unfortunately would not be able to compete at Fontana due to the shoulder injury he sustained at Barber Motorsports Park. John had surgery on Monday, and will hopefully be ready to compete at Road America, June 2nd – 4th. With Haner out with an injury, 21-year old Matt Lynn was tasked with the job of carrying the flag on the Millennium/KWS Suzuki GSX-R1000’s and what a job he did! Matt Lynn shocked the paddock on Saturday morning with a lap time of 1:25.270 on his Pirelli shod GSX-R1000 in Superbike qualifying. This placed him 10th on the grid, which is his best qualifying position in his short AMA career. “We put on some 16.5 inch wheels and some sticky Pirelli rubber on my Superstock bike and went for it,” said Lynn. “Those tires just flat hooked up!” Lynn continued this trend in Superstock qualifying by running a fast lap time of 1:26.445 for 12th position on the grid. The first race of the weekend for Millennium/KWS Suzuki was Superbike Race 1. The team was very upbeat after Lynn’s qualifying performance and was hopeful for a good result. Lynn got a great start from the third row and was leading factory Ducati rider Neil Hodgson when Lynn lost the front and crashed on the second lap. Lynn was unhurt and thanks to quality parts from Vortex and tough bodywork from Catalyst Racing Composites the bike was unhurt as well. Lynn immediately picked up the bike and rode hard to a 22nd place finish. The Superstock class is Matt Lynn’s focus this year and when the green flag dropped on Sunday morning he was ready to go. Lynn got another great start and was in a battle for 11th with Ben Thompson when the red flag came out on lap seven for a downed rider. While the AMA officials cleaned up, the Millennium/KWS Suzuki crew opted for a slightly softer compound rear Pirelli tire for the ten lap sprint to the finish. Again, Lynn got a great start and found himself in a battle with Erion Honda rider Aaron Gobert. Matt stalked the factory supported rider for five laps and then made his move going in to the tight infield section on the last lap to finish an outstanding 10th place, his best AMA finish to date. After Lynn’s great ride in Superstock, the team felt that they were ready for a good result in the second Superbike race. Lynn got another great start but immediately had trouble with front end grip. Despite struggling with the motorcycle, Lynn rode a smart race and was able to bring the bike home with a 15th place finish, tying his best ever Superbike finish. Matt Lynn: “The weekend went really well. Qualifying for both Superbike and Superstock was incredible. I made a mistake in the first Superbike race and fell down, but I was able to recover and finish the race. In the second Superbike race we didn’t have the set up right due much high track temps on Sunday afternoon and I had to ride pretty conservatively to bring the bike home in one piece. I am really happy with the Superstock race as I got my best AMA finish to date. The team worked really hard this weekend and I couldn’t do it without them. Thanks to Rick Matheny, Michael Godin, and Brian Stricker, those guys are the best!” Kevin Hunt (Team Owner): “If this was easy then everybody would be doing it! We are very upset about John Haner being injured, but Matt is doing a great job for such a young rider. I was very impressed by his performance this weekend. The team missed the set up for Superbike race 2 because it was so much hotter on Sunday afternoon and Matt showed a lot a maturity by not over riding the motorcycle and bringing it back in one piece. The team really pulled together this weekend to get a good result. Although John was in pain he showed up at the track to support the team and help Matt. This shows what kind of person John Haner is and I would like to thank him for it, we can’t wait to have him back!”